The Air Force has released a report indicating the August midair collision of two F-16s off the coast of Virginia was caused by one of the pilot’s poor sleep habits:
The accident investigation report by Air Combat Command says the pilot had trouble balancing his Air National Guard and civilian careers and only had about four hours of sleep each night in the 48 hours prior to the August collision. The pilot needed Read more
Two US Air National Guard F-16s collided over the ocean near the coast of Virginia. One pilot ejected, the other recovered his aircraft:
Two Air National Guard fighter jets collided midair, forcing one of the pilots to eject into the sea and be rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter a few hours later off the Virginia coast, officials said Friday.
The other pilot involved in the collision was able to fly back to Joint Base Andrews, Md. Both jets were from the 113th Wing D.C. Air National Guard and were on a routine training mission
The Coast Guard took the unusual step of posting a video of the at-sea rescue on the internet:
Also at the Stars and Stripes.
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According to the Wall Street Journal, a US Air Force C-130 and an unmanned RQ-7 Shadow collided over Afghanistan on Monday. The C-130 was damaged but landed safely; the RQ-7 apparently did not survive.
The name of the UAV is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
The RQ-7 is a tactical UAV generally operated by US ground forces. DefenseTech.org has pictures of the C-130.